refaire

French

Etymology

From re- +‎ faire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.fɛʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛʁ

Verb

refaire

1. (transitive) to redo, to do over, to do again, to repeat

   Si c'était à refaire, que ferais-tu différemment ?

   If you had to redo it, what would you do differently?

   • 1943, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, chapter III, in Le petit prince [The Little Prince], New York: Reynal & Hitchcock:

     J’ai de sérieuses raisons de croire que la planète d’où venait le petit prince est l’astéroïde B 612. Cet astéroïde n’a été aperçu qu’une fois au télescope, en 1909, par un astronome turc.
     Il avait fait alors une grande démonstration de sa découverte à un Congrès International d’Astronomie. Mais personne ne l’avait cru à cause de son costume. Les grandes personnes sont comme ça.
     Heureusement pour la réputation de l’astéroïde B 612 un dictateur turc imposa à son peuple, sous peine de mort, de s’habiller à l’Européenne. L’astronome refit sa démonstration en 1920, dans un habit très élégant. Et cette fois-ci tout le monde fut de son avis.

     I have serious reasons to believe that the planet The Little Prince came from is asteroid B-612. An asteroid, only seen once via telescope, in 1909, by a Turkish astronomer.
     He had then made a great demonstration of his discovery at the International Astronomy Congress that same year. But no one believed him because of how he dressed. Grown-ups are like that.
     Fortunately for the reputation of Asteroid B-612, a Turkish dictator ordered his people, under penal death, to dress in European clothes. The astronomer repeated his demonstration for the IAC in 1920, this time, in a very elegant outfit. And this time everyone believed him.

   • 2018, Zaz, Si c'était à refaire:

     Si c'était à refaire […] je suivrais mes traces dans la poussière.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (transitive) to remake, to recreate, to make more of, to reproduce
3. (transitive) to restore, to renovate, to make (like) brand new
4. (pronominal, se refaire) to get reaccustomed to
5. (pronominal, se refaire) to freshen up, to recuperate

Conjugation

Conjugation of refaire (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	refaire
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	refaisant /ʁə.f(ə).zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		refait /ʁə.fɛ/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	refais /ʁə.fɛ/	refais /ʁə.fɛ/	refait /ʁə.fɛ/	refaisons /ʁə.f(ə).zɔ̃/	refaites /ʁə.fɛt/	refont /ʁə.fɔ̃/
	imperfect	refaisais /ʁə.f(ə).zɛ/	refaisais /ʁə.f(ə).zɛ/	refaisait /ʁə.f(ə).zɛ/	refaisions /ʁə.fə.zjɔ̃/	refaisiez /ʁə.fə.zje/	refaisaient /ʁə.f(ə).zɛ/
	past historic2	refis /ʁə.fi/	refis /ʁə.fi/	refit /ʁə.fi/	refîmes /ʁə.fim/	refîtes /ʁə.fit/	refirent /ʁə.fiʁ/
	future	referai /ʁə.f(ə).ʁe/	referas /ʁə.f(ə).ʁa/	refera /ʁə.f(ə).ʁa/	referons /ʁə.f(ə).ʁɔ̃/	referez /ʁə.f(ə).ʁe/	referont /ʁə.f(ə).ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	referais /ʁə.f(ə).ʁɛ/	referais /ʁə.f(ə).ʁɛ/	referait /ʁə.f(ə).ʁɛ/	referions /ʁə.fə.ʁjɔ̃/	referiez /ʁə.fə.ʁje/	referaient /ʁə.f(ə).ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	refasse /ʁə.fas/	refasses /ʁə.fas/	refasse /ʁə.fas/	refassions /ʁə.fa.sjɔ̃/	refassiez /ʁə.fa.sje/	refassent /ʁə.fas/
	imperfect2	refisse /ʁə.fis/	refisses /ʁə.fis/	refît /ʁə.fi/	refissions /ʁə.fi.sjɔ̃/	refissiez /ʁə.fi.sje/	refissent /ʁə.fis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	refais /ʁə.fɛ/	—	refaisons /ʁə.f(ə).zɔ̃/	refaites /ʁə.fɛt/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Conjugation of se refaire (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	se refaire
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	se refaisant /sə ʁə.f(ə).zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		refait /ʁə.fɛ/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	me refais /mə ʁə.fɛ/	te refais /tə ʁə.fɛ/	se refait /sə ʁə.fɛ/	nous refaisons /nu ʁə.f(ə).zɔ̃/	vous refaites /vu ʁə.fɛt/	se refont /sə ʁə.fɔ̃/
	imperfect	me refaisais /mə ʁə.f(ə).zɛ/	te refaisais /tə ʁə.f(ə).zɛ/	se refaisait /sə ʁə.f(ə).zɛ/	nous refaisions /nu ʁə.fə.zjɔ̃/	vous refaisiez /vu ʁə.fə.zje/	se refaisaient /sə ʁə.f(ə).zɛ/
	past historic2	me refis /mə ʁə.fi/	te refis /tə ʁə.fi/	se refit /sə ʁə.fi/	nous refîmes /nu ʁə.fim/	vous refîtes /vu ʁə.fit/	se refirent /sə ʁə.fiʁ/
	future	me referai /mə ʁə.f(ə).ʁe/	te referas /tə ʁə.f(ə).ʁa/	se refera /sə ʁə.f(ə).ʁa/	nous referons /nu ʁə.f(ə).ʁɔ̃/	vous referez /vu ʁə.f(ə).ʁe/	se referont /sə ʁə.f(ə).ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	me referais /mə ʁə.f(ə).ʁɛ/	te referais /tə ʁə.f(ə).ʁɛ/	se referait /sə ʁə.f(ə).ʁɛ/	nous referions /nu ʁə.fə.ʁjɔ̃/	vous referiez /vu ʁə.fə.ʁje/	se referaient /sə ʁə.f(ə).ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	me refasse /mə ʁə.fas/	te refasses /tə ʁə.fas/	se refasse /sə ʁə.fas/	nous refassions /nu ʁə.fa.sjɔ̃/	vous refassiez /vu ʁə.fa.sje/	se refassent /sə ʁə.fas/
	imperfect2	me refisse /mə ʁə.fis/	te refisses /tə ʁə.fis/	se refît /sə ʁə.fi/	nous refissions /nu ʁə.fi.sjɔ̃/	vous refissiez /vu ʁə.fi.sje/	se refissent /sə ʁə.fis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	refais-toi /ʁə.fɛ.twa/	—	refaisons-nous /ʁə.f(ə).zɔ̃.nu/	refaites-vous /ʁə.fɛt.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• refaire le monde
• refaire le portrait
• refaire sa vie
• refaire surface
• se refaire la main

Related terms

• refait

Further reading

• “refaire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• fériera, raréfié, referai, référai

Old French

Verb

refaire

1. to redo; to do again

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of refaire (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		refaire			avoir refait
gerund		en refaisant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		refaisant
past participle		refait
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	refaz, refai	refais	refait	refaimes, refaisons	refaites	refont
	imperfect	refaisoie, refaiseie	refaisoies, refaiseies	refaisoit, refaiseit	refaisiiens, refaisiens	refaisiiez, refaisiez	refaisoient, refaiseient
	preterite	refis	refeṣis	refist	refeṣimes	refeṣistes	refirent
	future	referai	referas	refera	referons	referoiz, refereiz, referez	referont
	conditional	referoie, refereie	referoies, refereies	referoit, refereit	referiiens, referiens	referiiez, referiez	referoient, refereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	reface	refaces	reface	refaciens, refaçons	refaciez	refacent
	imperfect	refeṣisse	refeṣisses	refeṣist	refeṣissons, refeṣissiens	refeṣissoiz, refeṣissez, refeṣissiez	refeṣissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	refa	—	refaimes, refaisons	refaites	—

Descendants

• refaire